The continuous battle for survival in the environment has led to the development or acquisition of sophisticated defence systems in bacteria. These defence systems have contributed to the survival of the bacterial species in the environment for millions of years. Some systems appear to have evolved in a number of pathogenic bacteria towards a role in virulence and host immune evasion. Recently, different bacterial cell envelope components from diverse bacterial species have been linked not only to bacteriophage defence, but also to virulence features. In the present review we focus specifically on the bacterial cell envelope-expressed sialic-acid-containing LOS (lipo-oligosaccharide) structures and Type II CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)–Cas (CRISPR-associated) genes that both occur in specific Gram-negative pathogens. In Campylobacter jejuni circumstantial evidence points at a potential intertwined dual function between sialylated LOS structures and subtype II-C CRISPR–Cas, i.e. in phage defence and virulence. In the present review we discuss whether a dual functionality of sialylated LOS and subtype II-C CRISPR–Cas is exclusive to C. jejuni only or could be more widespread within the group of Type II CRISPR–Cas-harbouring bacteria. We conclude from the literature that, at least in C. jejuni, circumstantial evidence exists for a complex intertwined dual functionality between sialylated LOS and Type II CRISPR–Cas, and that other bacteria show similar genomic signatures.
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Conference Article|
November 20 2013
Are bacteriophage defence and virulence two sides of the same coin in Campylobacter jejuni?
Rogier Louwen;
Rogier Louwen
1
*Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam 3015GD, The Netherlands
1To whom correspondence should be addressed (emailr.louwen@erasmusmc.nl).
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Peter van Baarlen
Peter van Baarlen
†Host–Microbe Interactomics, Animal Sciences, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 338, 6700 AH, The Netherlands
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
July 03 2013
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© The Authors Journal compilation © 2013 Biochemical Society
2013
Biochem Soc Trans (2013) 41 (6): 1475–1481.
Article history
Received:
July 03 2013
Citation
Rogier Louwen, Peter van Baarlen; Are bacteriophage defence and virulence two sides of the same coin in Campylobacter jejuni?. Biochem Soc Trans 1 December 2013; 41 (6): 1475–1481. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST20130127
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